ABSTRACT

Six genotypes of maize (Zea inays L.) were studied for yield and yield components mu a field experiment conducted at the Michael Okpara University of  Agriculture experimental lariii, Umudikc. ihe lollowing genotypes; ATP-CAM. ATP-SR. and KASAI-SR, were collected from IlTA, Ibadan, DMS-IESR and SWAN-Y were collected from IAR and T, Ibadan while the control, 13ende-White was collected from Umuahia. They were laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) and replicated three times with a total ol I plots during the 2006 cropping season. The farm size was 300m2and each plot measured Sm x 3.3m. The spacing was 75cm x 50 cm which gave a total of 26.667 plants per hectare. Data were collected on the following components; plant height, number of leaves per plant, fresh cob weight, 1000 seed weight, number of seeds per cob, number of cobs per plant, plant height at maturity/harvest, grain yield/ha, proximate analysis of maize grain. Analysis of' variance showed a significant for plant height at 3 weeks after-planting (WAP) and 9WAP, number of leaves at 6 WAP and 12 WAP. Significant differences were also observed for fresh cob weight without husk and 1000 seed weight. A significant difference was also recorded for yield per hectare. The means of the yield per hectare showed that all the improved genotypes produced more than the indigenous Bende White. Correlation analysis showed significant correlation between number of leaves and plant height at 3 WAP at (0.05). significant correlation between fresh cob weight and 1000 seed weight at (P<0.0 1) and plant height at maturity and height from crop base to first cob at (P<0.05). This implies that these genotypes can be improved further and released as a variety for cultivation in Southeastern Nigeria since they can thrive and produce highly yields in the acid soils of Umudike.